The week in pictures

The Olympic rings converge together above performers during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Saudi Arabia(***)s first female Olympic athletes make their appearance during the opening ceremony. Back at home, Saudi security forces opened fire on Shia protesters in the Qatif
district of Eastern Province, wounding several of them as hundreds
marched to demand the release of detainees

The bottom of Celery Bog is exposed to the sun as water levels in the wetlands plummet in the US state of Indiana. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the current drought is the most extensive to afflict the US in more than 50 years, and will drive up food prices in the coming year.

Ivica Dacic, the wartime spokesman of late Slobodan Milosevic, was sworn in as Serbia(***)s new prime minister, triggering unease despite his proclaimed pro-EU positions.

Bodo people rest at a camp in Kokrajhar, India. The country(***)s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, met with people in the district, one of the worst-affected by the clashes between ethnic Bodos and Muslim settlers in Assam state.

People read newspapers reporting the death of Ghana President John Atta Mills, 68, in Accra, on July 26. Vice President John Dramani Mahama was sworn in hours after the announcement of Mills(***) death from a sudden illness.

Syrian rebels patrol near Aleppo. Fierce fighting has erupted in the city over the last couple days, with the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights now estimating the total death toll to be over 20,000 since the uprising began.

A woman paddles a canoe past stilt houses at Makoko, a floating slum in Lagos, Nigeria. A government-led eviction last week saw men in speedboats destroying homes with machetes, resulting in 3,000 newly homeless people.